18 (Japan’s Mountain Day)

August 11, 2018 by GµårÐïåñ Leave a Comment

Lace up your hiking boots for Mountain Day

Here in Japan, Mountain Day began just two years ago as a way to encourage residents to get out and explore Japan’s beautiful mountains. Mount Fuji’s Yoshida Trail, seen in this photo, is open only a short time every year, so it might be busy today. If Fuji, or any mountain, is beyond your reach, consider the seasonally appropriate ‘forest bath’ as an alternative. In Japan, a forest bath is a form of nature therapy, with no undressing, soap, or water required. Simply go to a wooded area and relax, soaking in the clean air and natural sounds as you calm your thoughts. (Is it working yet?)

Daily Pic ^08/11/17

Caverne du Pont d'Arc at Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, France

Today in History ^08/11 (Watts Riots)

August 11, 2018 by GµårÐïåñ Leave a Comment

Fires burn in Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood during the fourth day of rioting and looting that began on Aug 11, 1965 (© Bettmann/Corbis)

(1965) South Central Los Angeles engulfed in flames and rioting

Spurred by poverty, racism, and tension between residents and the city’s police, riots break out in L.A.’s Watts neighborhood. Lasting six days, the worst rioting yet seen in the city’s history will count more than 3,000 people arrested, over 1,000 injured, and 34 dead.

The Watts riots, sometimes referred to as the Watts Rebellion, took place in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles from August 11 to 16, 1965. On August 11, 1965, Marquette Frye, an African-American motorist on parole for robbery, was pulled over for reckless driving. A minor roadside argument broke out, and then escalated into a fight with police. False rumors spread that the police had hurt a pregnant woman, and six days of looting and arson followed. Los Angeles police needed the support of nearly 4,000 members of the California Army National Guard to quell the riots, which resulted in 34 deaths and over $40 million in property damage. The riots were blamed principally on police racism. It was the city’s worst unrest until the Rodney King riots of 1992.

Start date: Aug 11, 1965
End date: Aug 16, 1965

Burning buildings during the riots
wiki/Watts_riots

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(1965) South Central Los Angeles engulfed in flames and rioting.
Also on this day,

1973 | DJ Kool Herc’s Bronx party kick-starts hip-hop music

Clive ‘Kool Herc’ Campbell is throwing a party in the rec room of his South Bronx, New York, apartment building and he plays dance music on the ‘Merry Go Round,’ two manually-controlled turntables. It’s a great success, and DJ Kool Herc will be hailed by many as the father of hip-hop.

1973 | ‘American Graffiti’ cruises into theaters

Writer/director George Lucas takes moviegoers back to the early 1960s with stories of drive-ins, high-school sock hops, and cruising the strip. The cast includes Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Mackenzie Phillips, and Cindy Williams, as well as a cameo from another future TV star.

2016 | Japan first celebrates Mountain Day

A law passed two years earlier takes effect, and Mountain Day is an official holiday in Japan. The idea came from hiking groups who wanted a holiday to celebrate the country’s terrain and geography. This date (8/11) was chosen since the Kanji character for 8 looks like a mountain, and 11 looks like two trees.

Today in History ^08/11/17

German flags in front of the of Reichstag building in Berlin (© Westend61/Getty Images)

(1919) From the ashes of war Germany's first democracy emerges

A constitutional assembly in Weimar, Germany, adopts a parliamentary democracy, the first in the country's history, replacing centuries of imperial rule. The massive chaos and loss caused by German defeat in World War I has led to the Weimar Republic, but Nazi rule is less than 15 years away.

Weimar Republic was an unofficial, historical designation for the German state between 1919 and 1933. The name derives from the city of Weimar, where its constitutional assembly first took place. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich; it had remained unchanged since 1871. In English the country was usually known simply as Germany. A national assembly was convened in Weimar, where a new constitution for the Deutsches Reich was written, and adopted on 11 August 1919. In its fourteen years, the Weimar Republic faced numerous problems, including hyperinflation, political extremism, as well as contentious relationships with the victors of the First World War. The people of Germany blamed the Weimar Republic rather than their wartime leaders for the country's defeat and for the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Versailles. However, the Weimar Republic government successfully reformed the currency, unified tax policies, and organized the railway system. Weimar Germany fulfilled most of the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles although it never completely met its disarmament requirements, and eventually paid only a small portion of the war reparations. Under the Locarno Treaties, Germany accepted the western borders of the republic, but continued to dispute the Eastern border.

Founded: Nov 09, 1918
Dissolved: 1933
Population: 62.41 million (1925)
Area: 181,000 sq miles (468,787 km²)
Capital: Berlin
Official language: German

Map of the German Reich, (Republic of Weimar/Third Reich) 1919–1937

wiki/Weimar_Republic

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Today in History ^08/09 (Battle of Adrianople)

August 9, 2018 by GµårÐïåñ Leave a Comment

Drawing depicting Roman Emperor Valens circa 376 (© ullstein bild/Getty Images)

(378) Romans fail to crush a Goth rebellion in the east

Thousands of soldiers mass near Adrianople in present-day Turkey to fight a battle some historians will later cite as the beginning of the end of the Western Roman Empire. Hoping to crush a Visigoth rebellion in his Eastern Empire, Roman Emperor Valens is instead killed and his army is decimated by Goth horsemen.

The Battle of Adrianople, sometimes known as the Battle of Hadrianopolis, was fought between an Eastern Roman army led by the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens and Gothic rebels led by Fritigern. The battle took place about 13 km north of Adrianople in the Roman province of Thracia. It ended with an overwhelming victory for the Goths and the death of Emperor Valens.

Date: 378 AD

Map of the battle, according to the History Department of the US Military Academy
wiki/Battle_of_Adrianople

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(378) Romans fail to crush a Goth rebellion in the east.
Also on this day,

1854 | Thoreau’s meditation on man and nature is published

Two years of living on the shores of Massachusetts’ Walden Pond have borne literary fruit as Henry David Thoreau’s memoir of his secluded time there is published. ‘Walden’ will sell well, and remain a seminal work of early environmentalism and a celebration of the individual’s spirit.

1945 | A-bomb hits Nagasaki as second nuclear military target

Three days after Hiroshima was destroyed by the first nuclear weapon strike in history, Nagasaki, Japan, is hit by an atomic blast dropped from a US bomber. Upwards of 39,000 people are immediately killed as the city is leveled, and Japan will surrender less than week later, ending World War II.

1969 | Five are found murdered at Sharon Tate’s L.A. home

Pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others are discovered dead in Los Angeles at the Benedict Canyon hillside home she shares with her husband, film director Roman Polanski. The murders will be traced back to Charles Manson and members of his cult, known as ‘The Manson Family.’

Today in History ^08/09/17

Remains of a temple after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 (© Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

(1945) Nagasaki is second nuclear military target

Three days after Hiroshima was destroyed by the first nuclear weapon strike in history, Nagasaki, Japan, is hit by an atomic blast dropped from a US bomber. Upwards of 39,000 people are immediately killed as the city is leveled, and Japan will surrender less than week later, ending World War II.

During the final stage of World War II, the United States dropped nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively. The United States had dropped the bombs with the consent of the United Kingdom as outlined in the Quebec Agreement. The two bombings, which killed at least 129,000 people, remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare in history.

Start date: Aug 06, 1945
End date: Aug 09, 1945

wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki

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Daily Pic ^08/02/18 (Aomori Nebuta Matsuri)

August 2, 2018 by GµårÐïåñ Leave a Comment

The Aomori Nebuta Festival parade, Japan

From now until Aug 7, the northern Japanese city of Aomori is celebrating Aomori Nebuta, a festival (‘matsuri’) that features bright, colorful floats like the one seen in our photo. The history of how the festival began depends on who you ask and what you read. But the way to celebrate is to join or watch the parade that is the centerpiece of the observance. The floats depict mythic warriors and creatures, and they move through Aomori accompanied by musicians, often playing flutes and pounding on loud taiko drums. The goal? To ‘awaken sleepy souls.’

Daily Pic ^08/02/17

Spiral whip coral

RIP – Masaya Nakamura

January 23, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

It was a sad day that reflected on my own age when Nakamura passed away. It reminded me how much time I spent as a boy playing PacMan and all the variations. So I decided to make this picture as a way to say thank you for all the memories, may you rest in peace.

Masaya Nakamura was a Japanese businessman and founder of Namco, initially an amusement ride manufacturing company, but which grew under Nakamura’s leadership into the third largest video game developing entity in Japan during the 1970s and 1980s. Nakamura helped to usher in Namco’s growing video game division for arcade games, leading to numerous successes including Toru Iwatani’s Pac-Man, which remains the highest-grossing arcade game worldwide; for his leadership in directing the company to this success, Nakamura is considered “the father of Pac-Man”.

Nakamura stepped down as Namco’s CEO in 2002 and took a ceremonial role in the company’s management, three years before Namco merged with Bandai, forming Bandai Namco. Nakamura was awarded the “Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette” by the Japanese government in 2007 for his contributions to Japanese industry.

Born: Dec 24, 1925 · Tokyo
Died: Jan 22, 2017
Founded: Namco